Easton fatal crash victim's 'smile could light up a room’

Kyle Alspach and Jessica Scarpati

Friday

Feb 27, 2009 at 12:01 AMFeb 27, 2009 at 8:50 PM

Nicole St. John of Easton was recalled Thursday as a fun-loving friend and a hard-working student. She was killed early Thursday morning when her compact car was crushed by a tractor trailer in Easton.

When a friend lost her camera a few months ago, Nicole St. John searched for it outside in the rain and darkness at 2 a.m.

“I remember after I had left, really upset, she searched forever for me,” said Megan McAuley, 19, of Easton. “She was a great friend.”

St. John, 22, was killed early Thursday morning when her Honda Civic was crushed by a tractor trailer at Foundry and Prospect streets.

The Easton woman was recalled as a fun-loving friend and a hard-working student.

Samantha Elias said she used to work with St. John at Starbucks in Norwood, where St. John earned the nickname “Nikki Chai” due to her love for chai lattes. She was an amazing friend, Elias said.

“Her smile could light up a room, and no one could say anything bad about her liveliness,” said Elias, 19, of Rehoboth.

McAuley said St. John was “always the life of the party.”

“She was so upbeat and full of life,” McAuley said. “She could show up anywhere and have a story to tell. She was a such pleasure to be around.”

St. John graduated from Oliver Ames High School in 2005 and was expecting to graduate from Bridgewater State College in May 2010.

“Nicole was a wonderful, wonderful student here, very polite, outgoing,” said Oliver Ames Principal Wesley Paul. “She was a very popular student and a very hard worker.”

In 2005, St. John took a student trip to Greece with history teacher Eveline Johnson.

“Nikki just beamed all the time,” Johnson said. “She was bubbly, generous, thoughtful and kind. You never saw her without a big smile.

“When we had meetings to plan for the trip, she always showed up early to help set up and always helped clean up afterward. She was one of the finest students I’ve ever had the privilege of knowing.”

At Bridgewater State College, St. John was a communications studies major, with a concentration in corporate communications and minor in management, said assistant professor Jason Edwards.

Her personality was the “three B’s — bright, bubbly and bombastic,” said Edwards, 35, who taught her in his political communications class.

“I mean that in a good way. She was one of those students who, if I put something out there, she would in some respects, whether she wanted to or not, have a contrarian opinion. I liked those kinds of students.”

Edwards said he recalled her passion and energy coming out during a recent class discussion on the state’s proposed gas tax increase.

“She was one of those students who was like, ‘I can't believe what’s going on!,’ and it was great. I was really looking forward to what she was going to say (in class) today,” he said.

On Thursday, police said St. John had just picked up two friends from a house on Prospect Street and was driving north on the street when it appears, based on a preliminary investigation, she went through a stop sign.

St. John, of 88 Elm St., was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash.

Family members and friends who gathered at St. John’s home Thursday afternoon declined to speak about her for this story.

Two passengers in her car were injured. Kevin Cotter, 21, of Lincoln Street, North Easton, who was in the back seat of the car, was flown to Massachusetts General Hospital. Cotter remained in fair condition Thursday afternoon at the hospital, a spokeswoman said.

Another passenger, Michael Tierney, 22, of Whitman, was taken to Caritas Good Samaritan Medical Center in Brockton for treatment. Tierney was treated and released from the hospital, a spokeswoman said.

The truck driver was identified as Brian Augustine, 52, of New Bedford. He was not injured.

The crash remained under investigation by Easton and state police.

Kyle Alspach can be reached at kalspach@enterprisenews.com. Staff writer Maureen Boyle contributed to this report.

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